Force detection devices have been commonly used in the prior art for rehabilitation from injuries caused by trauma to lower limbs. A large percentage of joggers and runners become injured in some fashion while running. Most of these joggers and runners do not realize that an improper stride may directly lead to, or at a minimum, contribute to these injuries. Overstriding is one example of an improper stride used by runners. Webster's dictionary defines overstride as “to stride over or beyond.” Overstriding most often occurs when a moving person's foot strikes the ground in a position in front of a point directly below the runner's center of gravity. In this situation, the center of gravity is located just above the center of the pelvis when that person is running, and when a runner's foot strikes the ground too far in front of the center of gravity, the foot acts to brake or slow down the runner's momentum. The foot can land on the ground in a propping or braking position. When this happens, the foot's impact retards the forward motion of the body, and additional energy must be then expended to compensate for the loss.
A typical foot strike creates large impact forces which are mostly absorbed by the body's muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Any misalignment or imbalance in the gait can turn into a problem due to the repetition of the movements in walking, jogging or running. Most joggers and runners are unaware of these misalignments or imbalances, and of the loss of forward motion associated with inefficient strides, and many can spend an entire lifetime of running or jogging without knowing how much more economical their running or jogging action would be if they learned to adjust to a more efficient stride. For example, some runners may need to reduce their overall stride length and pick up their cadence to achieve the desired strides in their gait.
Misalignment caused by overpronation in the leg can also lead to a whole host of injuries in areas higher in the limbs such as the knees and hip joints. Excessive supination, or the outward rolling of the foot, is not as common but can lead to similar debilitating effects over a period of time. Lack of any pronation can lead to excessive force being distributed throughout the body as the foot is not able to absorb the impact force. Some examples of typical injuries related to running and jogging are: achilles tendinitis, arthritis of the foot and ankle, ankle pain, arch pain, back pain, bunions, calf strain, clubfoot, corns, fractures of the heel, groin pull, hammertoes, hamstring pain, heel pain, hip pain, iliotibial band syndrome, knee pain (or runners knee), morton's neuroma (persistent pain in the ball of your foot), neck & shoulder pain, overpronation, shinsplints, side stitches, sprained ankle, stress fractures of the foot and ankle, thighbone fracture, toe and forefoot fractures. All of the aforementioned maladies can be caused or exacerbated by an inefficient running stride.
Unlike the present invention, variations of devices known in the prior art use resistive sensors which are designed to change resistance when a force or weight is applied, in essence measuring the weight applied to the surface of the resistor. Also, many of these devices in the prior art are large, bulky and expensive, and they are primarily used in controlled settings to analyze gait analysis. These known devices were created for patients who had been injured and were in the process of rehabilitation. The machines were specifically designed to monitor the amount of weight or pressure applied to the leg while the injured person was recovering.
Runners who have had a running related injury are frequently told to stop running so as to avoid further aggravation of their injury. Medical doctors will also frequently prescribe anti-inflammatory medication in addition to rest. During aerobic activity, the cushioning found in an athletic shoe can only do so much to help when the athlete has an improper stride such as a pounding stride. A bad stride can not only slow a runner down, bouncing, hopping, and pounding when running wastes energy and places enormous amounts of strain on their ankles, knees, hips, back and neck. The present invention gives the athlete the ability to moderate his or her stride to prevent this strain and energy waste.
In general, all running effort should be directed forward. There should be very little up and down motion. Runners who bounce or hop when they run are wasting energy. They are also putting excessive stress on the knees, hip and back along with their whole body.